Grudge Not Found
by Ciestess
Summary: "After losing a bet, Shinji has to wear a tacky pumpkin costume to a party. But... Maybe it's not ALL bad..." Part 6 of "Of Shinji and Pastries"


Shinji stood outside the door to Orihime's apartment. Stalling.  
Did he really have to?

He contemplated what Hiyori and Koharu would do if he didn't.

He shuddered. Yeah. He had to.

This was it. He REALLY needed to stop making bets!  
_He REALLY thought he could win that one, though!_

… Oh well. Nothing to do now but suck it up.  
He sighed. Time to stop stalling.

Reluctantly, he knocked.  
Rangiku answered, wearing a revealing witches' costume. "Hey! Welcome to the par-!" She stopped mid-sentence after opening her eyes.  
The rest of the party jumped at her sudden burst of laughter.

"Alright, alright! _I get it!_ Jeez…" Shinji bumped and bounced his way passed her, pumpkin costume barely fitting through the door.  
He only had to get through this one night. Then he'd get his-

-He spotted the refreshments table.

'_...  
_'_Well, there aren't any rules about not eating sweets from anywhere OTHER than my stash…'_

Glancing left and right to make sure Hiyori wasn't looking, he snuck his way, as best he could in the costume, over to a table overflowing with homemade candy and deserts.  
He reached for a sugar-coated… _something-_

'_Who cares what it is. It's __**sugar**__!'  
_"I wouldn't, if I were you."  
He jumped, dropped the pastry as if it had burned him, turned, and standing two feet from him was-  
His voice laced with concern and dread, he asked, "... Koharu… _what _are you wearing…?"  
"It's a taiyaki costume."  
"I can see that. What I meant to ask is '_Whhhyyyyy...?'_"  
"Oh. Well, that's easy," her hand hovered over the table, eventually settling on a safe-looking bowl of store-bought candy. She picked one out and started unwrapping it. "To help you get over your _nightmare_," she whispered.

He glared at her as she popped the sweet into her cheekily-grinning mouth. Turning back to the table, he carefully picked the mystery-pastry back up.  
"I _wouldn't~_!" Koharu repeated quietly.  
He ignored her.

Big mistake.

He bit into the pastry-  
-and spat it back out _immediately_.

"Why ith thith-" He spat the last of it out of his mouth. "_Why_ is this _beet flavored_?!"  
As if summoned, Orihime appeared beside them. "Oh! Well, because I thought it would be yummy!"  
She flitted away, back to the party.

Shinji reached over for a glass of punch-  
Stopped. Double-checked that other people were also drinking it-  
-then grabbed a glass and _downed _it in one go.

Koharu was giggling.  
He glared at her.  
"Hey, now. I _did _try to warn you~!"

He walked away.

He ended up spending a few miserable minutes hiding in the corner, watching the festivities (such as they were).  
Everyone was wearing some kind of costume, most of them traditional Halloween costumes, like witches, cats, and zombies. Mashiro, Orihime, Rangiku, and Ikkaku were all dancing to some Halloween song he didn't recognize. Hiyori, Ichigo, and most of the others were standing or sitting around, just talking.  
But for some reason, despite the small size of the apartment, he couldn't spot Koharu.

He actually started drifting off to sleep, his head lolling and empty cup almost dropping out of his hand, when he was woken up by his favorite kind of music.  
Someone had started playing jazz.

And not just _any _jazz.  
_HIS _jazz!

It was a playlist he'd made for Koharu back when they were dating!  
"Care for a dance?"

There she was again. Appearing out of nowhere like the _ghost _she was.

Dead.  
Didn't see him for one hundred years.  
And yet holding her hand out to him, asking him to dance while dressed in their equally-ridiculous costumes…

He grinned.  
And took her hand.

They swayed along to the music.  
"You picked my costume on purpose, didn't you. So we matched?"  
"Hm?" She hummed. All fake-innocence. "Why, I have _no _idea what you're talking about~."

After the song ended, Hiyori came over with the rest of the bet in tow - a plate of Kensei's "special" taiyaki - only to find Shinji and Koharu mysteriously missing.

They weren't found until the next morning.

* * *

This is part of my "OneShot Wednesday" project, where I tried to write a one-shot every week that other people requested.

I'm currently taking a break from the OSWs to rethink my approach to them. It will last at least over the Holidays, and I may not continue them at all.

If you want me to continue them, let me know!

At the moment, I'm thinking I may move to a monthly posting schedule instead, allowing for longer fics, rather than just one-shots.

But, if you want to know more about how the OSWs worked anyway, you can read about Original OSWs on my website (crossroadofinfinity. "com/" 2019/07/07/how-it-works/), and Fanfic OSWs in my profile.

If you liked this, please **SHARE** it!


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